Alenna Shawcross
Alenna Shawcross is the main protagonist of the Forsaken Trilogy. Born not too long after the founding of the UNA, Alenna was forced to watch the UNA police force storm the apartment where she and her family lived and apprehend her parents for opposing the oppressive UNA government. This left a ten year old Alenna in the care of an orphanage. Six years later, Alenna takes the GPPT as was required by the government that all sixteen year olds take supposedly to capture future criminals before they could pose a threat to the UNA. Alenna failed the test and thus, was transported to Prison Island Alpha, an island where those who failed the test were exiled to. During her grueling time on the Wheel, Alenna would make many allies and made a daring escape to a rebel group against the UNA, where she began her quest for vengeance against the UNA. She also begins a relationship with fellow wheel inmate Liam Bernal. Biography Early life Alenna Shawcross was born in New Boston, Massachusetts, to Thomas and Leah Shawcross, not long after the United Northern Alliance (UNA) was founded from the merging of America, Canada, and Mexico. Alenna had a happy childhood where her father would teach her to play the guitar and about Greek mythology and telling her to "imagine Sisyphus happy". When Alenna was little, she met a young boy named Liam Bernal, whose parents were old friends of Alenna's parents years before the UNA was founded, and the two would play together at times. Alenna's family even took a trip to Florida with Liam's family at one point before the UNA outlawed travel. Alenna had fond memories of her time in Florida, though she did not remember her time with Liam. However, when Alenna was ten years old, she witnessed the UNA's secret police storm the apartment where she and her parents lived and arrest her parents, as her parents had repeatedly disagreed with the UNA's authoritarian policies. Frightened, Alenna fled to her bedroom and slammed the door, but the police found her and told her she would be safe under their care, and that her parents were traitors to the UNA. Traumatized, Alenna had no choice but to leave her home with the police, who would take her to Orphanage 41 in New Providence, Rhode Island. Orphaned For six years, Alenna lived in Orphanage 41, and would attend a government funded public school. As Alenna grew up in the orphanage, she would grow into an quiet and obedient citizen of the UNA, while secretly holding contempt towards the UNA for the apprehension of her parents. On top of her disdain for the UNA's totalitarian government, Alenna would harbor a strong hatred toward the UNA's militaristic Prime Minister Roland Harka, and would long for his death for years. When Alenna was sixteen years old, Alenna took a class field trip to the Harka Museum of Reeducation with her Social Reconstruction teacher, Ms. Baines. During her time at the Museum, Alenna and her classmates watched camera footage on the Wheel, a desolate prison island where rebels and political opponents who opposed the UNA's regime were sent to live out the remainder of their lives. The Wheel was also called Prison Island Alpha, and was also where the UNA deported teenagers("Unanchored Souls") who failed the Government Personality Profile Test. The GPPT was a government administered personality test that all sixteen year old UNA citizens were required to take supposedly to detect future criminals through future violent behavior before they could cause problems for the UNA. As Alenna observed the footage from the Wheel, she noticed a tall teenage boy peering into the camera, when a figure in a black cloak came from behind and attacked the boy. Alenna and her classmates watched in fright as a struggle began between the two young adolescents, but they vanished after a short while. The next morning, Alenna and some of her friends in the orphanage were scheduled to take the GPPT, and were driven to a testing facility to be tested. Upon arrival, Alenna and her friends were separated into different testing pens, Alenna had no doubt that she would pass the GPPT, as she was an obedient citizen of the UNA. Alenna could only ponder as she lost consciousness to begin testing. Life on The Wheel Despite her hopes that she would pass, Alenna failed the GPPT, and was subsequently transported to the Wheel. Alenna awoke hours later to find herself lying in the Wheel's lush jungles, which left her in shock and disbelief when she noticed a spiral staircase a few meters away. Believing her ending up on the island was a mistake, Alenna trekked through the jungle to reach the spiral staircase to find the camera through which she glimpsed the Wheel through back at the museum to signal for help. On the way there, Alenna came across a teenage boy named David Aberley. Although apprehensive to trust him at first, Alenna and David decided to get to the camera together to escape the Wheel. Upon reaching the camera, Alenna used a leaf to scribble a message for help and attached it to the camera lens, despite David's claims that the UNA cares nothing for Unanchored Souls and will not send help. Alenna and David then moved through the woods after spotting a wild boar being killed by a teenager in a cloak. A few minutes later, Alenna and David decided to make camp and David used bark to start a fire and make torches for himself and Alenna. When the two decided to climb up a tree to sleep in, Alenna and David were attacked by a group of teenagers in cloaks, who declared that they were going to take the two teenagers to The Monk. The two struggled against the cloaked figures, but were rescued by a teenage girl named Gadya, who threatened the figures with a shotgun. Alenna and Gadya were able to escape, but David fought back against the figures and was captured by them, with Alenna unable to rescue him. After escaping, Gadya told Alenna that everything she had learned about the kids sent to the Wheel was wrong and that the kids are not criminals. Gadya also told Alenna that the Monk is the leader of the cloaked teenagers, called Drones, and is the oldest inhabitant on the Wheel who seeks to escape the Wheel by killing off the Villagers, a group of teenagers who have established a society on the Wheel after being exiled from the UNA. Upon arriving at the Village with Gadya, Alenna met with Matthew Veidman, the leader of the Villagers, and his girlfriend Meira, who told Alenna that the Villagers and the Drones were in a civil war and the Drones have taken over every sector on the Wheel except the blue sector where the Villagers live. After Veidman gives Alenna a serum to dull the effects of the UNA's test drugs, she went to a campfire meeting and met with several other villagers such as the village cook Rika and the skilled warrior Sinxen Ro, who was nicknamed "Assassin Elite", and quickly befriended many of them. To her surprise, Alenna also recognized the tall teenage boy she saw on the camera in the museum, who was none other than Liam from her childhood, was present at the meeting to inform Veidman and the other Villagers of his trip to the Gray Zone and witnessed a UNA aircraft landing and departing from a tower in the Gray Zone before the tunnel leading to the Gray Zone was destroyed by Drones. Before Veidman could make a plan based on the intel, the Village was attacked by a group of Drones with fireworks. Alenna and Rika attempted to hide from the chaos, but were confronted by two Drones, one of which was David, shocking Alenna. The older Drone attempted to goad David into killing Rika, but David could not bring himself up to do it. Before the older Drone could carry out the killing himself, the Village was attacked by drones with tentacles called "Feelers". The Drones quickly scattered and retreated, but the older Drone was attacked and dragged away by a Feeler. After the attack, Alenna and Rika were confronted by Gadya, who said that David disappeared in the commotion and that Feelers abduct both Villagers and Drones on sight. The next morning, Alenna had a talk with Veidman about the Wheel when Liam informed Veidman that he has captured a Drone, who was actually David. Veidman was skeptical about letting David stay at the Village, so he took David in to use the serum. Later, Alenna and Gadya talked about "Operation Tiger Strike", a task set forth by Veidman to find another way into the Gray Zone and a way to escape the island, and that Veidman's apprehensive behavior towards David was due to his belief that there is a spy among the Villagers. The next day, Alenna decided to volunteer to feed the Drone prisoners for Veidman not just to feel useful, but to check on David. Upon arriving at the kennels, Alenna met the guard Markus Horvath, who helped Alenna get to work feeding the Drones. Alenna started with David to get information out of him. David pleaded Alenna to help him get out so he could help her. The young boy also revealed that while he was a prisoner of the Drones, he revealed Alenna's presence on the Wheel, where he learned that Alenna's parents could have been on the Wheel some years ago. Before David could reveal more, Markus restrained David, but relented when Alenna asked him to. David then revealed that the Wheel was originally a prison colony for political dissidents, though Markus refused to listen and asked Alenna to return to Veidman. Alenna left the kennels and found Liam waiting for her, and the two began a conversation about their lives, where Liam revealed that his father, Octavio Bernal, was a legendary rebel commander who fought against the UNA and was eventually executed by the government. Liam also told Alenna about the Gray Zone, the only uninhabited zone on the island. Liam tells Alenna that there is a landing station somewhere in the Gray Zone and Operation Tiger Strike would be focused on finding the station and learning how it works so they can escape the island. Just then, Gadya came over and alerted Liam and Alenna that there were chemical compounds in the rivers and that the Drones were attacking the kennels. Alenna rushed back to the kennels to find the prisoners dead and Markus injured and David gone. Alenna consoled the sole surviving Drone before he succumbed to his wounds, but not before he told Alenna that her parents left messages in the Gray Zone. Veidman and Meira then turned up and decided to set up a meeting that night in response to the attack and David's disappearance. That evening, Alenna attended the meeting where Veidman addressed the recent Drone attack and his and Meira's suspicions about David being a spy for the Monk as well as his intentions to launch Operation Tiger Strike within nine days. Alenna was motivated by a desire to escape the Wheel and find out answers about her parents on the island so she decided to join Operation Tiger Strike. As she lacked combat skills, Alenna asked Gadya to train her, to which her best friend agreed. Markus then escorted Alenna to Veidman. Once Alenna reached Veidman's cabin, the Village leader asked Alenna to join the expedition for Operation Tiger Strike as his lookout, to which she agreed. Upon exiting the cabin, Alenna was approached by Liam, who was impressed by Alenna's decision to join the expedition force for Operation Tiger Strike. Liam also admitted his feelings for Alenna and kissed her, and although Alenna liked Liam too, she had no desire to be in a relationship with Liam as Gadya warned her not to get romantic with Liam. For the next few days, Alenna trained tirelessly with Gadya, who taught her close quarters combat and how to use a bow and arrow. On the night before Operation Tiger Strike was to start, Alenna met up with Liam, despite being told by Gadya not to. Liam presented a makeshift wooden guitar that he made for Alenna in his spare time. Alenna felt overjoyed by Liam's generosity and the two kissed. After Liam left, Alenna was approached by a cloaked figure, who revealed himself to be David. The young boy revealed that he was spying on Alenna and Liam, and told her that they could start a new life together on the Wheel and found their own civilization. Alenna refused, but David said that "civilization is what we make of it" before vanishing. Operation Tiger Strike Early in the morning, Alenna joined up with the rest of the expedition group led by Veidman, consisting of Gadya, Liam, Markus, Sinxen, and many other hunters. The group left after breakfast and made way to the Grey Zone. After a few hours of walking, the group ended up in the Monk's territory when Rika joined the group, which Alenna was grateful for. Alenna and her friends were attacked by Drones shortly thereafter, during which a few hunters lost their lives, but Alenna and her friends were able to kill many Drones, thanks to Gadya's training. As the Villagers were gaining the upper hand against the Drones, seven Feelers descended from the skies and the few surviving Drones scattered. As Alenna and her friends struggled to fight against the robotic monstrosities, one of the Feelers grabbed Alenna in its tentacles and she struggled to break free and screamed for help. As the Feeler began to drag her into the sky, Liam smashed a spear into the Feeler, making it crash into a tree and knocking Alenna to the ground. Liam fought against the mechanical menace with help from the other hunters, but the Feeler broke its tentacle free of the tree and grabbed Liam tightly. Alenna was forced to watch helplessly the Feeler dragged her beloved boyfriend away. Angered at Liam's presumed death, Gadya blamed Alenna for Liam's loss, which started a heated argument between the two girls. Veidman stepped in and broke up the fight. Gadya eventually relented, and Alenna and the rest of the group continued their hike through the Wheel's jungles to reach the Grey Zone to find the landing pad for the aircraft. Later, the group would reach the barrier to the Gray Zone, which was blocked off by a grey jelly like substance, which the Villagers found they could not penetrate. Before the group could determine how to penetrate the barrier, they noticed a single Drone stuck in the barrier, pleading for help. In an act of selflessness, Veidman pulled the Drone out, who in turn asked Veidman to get close to him, promising information. However, the Drone unveiled his deception and stabbed Veidman with a silver dagger, shocking Alenna and her friends. Markus quickly killed the Drone and cared for a mortally wounded Veidman along with Alenna. Despite the group's efforts to preserve Veidman's life, Veidman succumbed to his wound and died. A few moments would pass when a large group of Drones would confront the Villagers led by none other than the Monk himself. The Monk proposed an alliance with Alenna and her friends to get into the Gray Zone, and that he was ill. Alenna and Gadya, despite being apprehensive, decided to accompany the Monk to his camp. That night at the camp, Alenna and Gadya were made to fight to the death against multiple Drones to test their strength. After slaughtering several Drones, Alenna and her friends were approached by the Monk, who proclaimed that the group had passed the trials and promised to help the Villagers breach the barrier the next day. Regardless, Alenna remained suspicious of the Monk's true intentions and was disturbed by the hive mind structure of Drone society. The next day, Alenna, Rika, Gadya, Sinxen, and Markus left the Drone camp accompanied by The Monk and two of his Drones to the barrier. Along the way, the Monk explained that the impenetrable substance sealing off the barrier was made of synthetic filaments created by UNA scientists years earlier to contain contaminants and used the wall to prevent anyone from entering the Gray Zone. Alenna witnessed the Drones catapulting fireworks into the wall, which created massive holes in the barrier. Alenna, her friends, accompanied by the Monk and one of his Drones, quickly made their way through the breaches in the barrier and entered the Gray Zone, as the substance the wall was made of could self repair. However, one of the other Drones hastily jumped through the last breach before it closed. The Drone's mask fell seconds later, revealing the figure to be David. The Villagers were apprehensive and suspicious of David's reasons for coming with the group, believing him to be a spy for the Monk, but Alenna defended David and allowed him to join the group when he revealed his intentions to help the group escape the Wheel. While in the Gray Zone, Alenna and decided to scout ahead for booby traps and firewood. While scouting, Alenna was shocked to find a stone with the names of her parents engraved within the rock and a carving of the face of Sisyphus, indicating that Alenna's parents were at one time present on the Wheel. Later, after the group crossed a frozen river, they were attacked by a Feeler. Alenna and her friends decided to pull the Feeler down towards the river as it slowly began to crack. The plan worked and the Feeler crashed into the ice, but Sinxen was impaled through the heart by one of the Feeler's tentacles, killing him. Rika also fell into the unfrozen river with Sinxen's corpse, but was rescued by David. After dealing with the Feeler, the group noticed that the Monk was shriveling due to his vast injuries and hypothermia. Gadya proceeded to peel off the Monk's mask and Alenna would discover that the Monk was none other than Minister Harka himself. Alenna was shocked at the revelation, and Harka revealed that a few years into his reign over the UNA, Harka was ousted from power by his own military staff when they believed Harka had grown soft and sent him to the island. Harka also revealed that all five members of his inner circle underwent plastic surgery to resemble the dictator to give off the illusion that Harka was still in power. While there, he was brutalized by many of the prisoners, which resulted in his vast injuries. When kids began arriving on the Wheel, Harka posed as a mystical being to manipulate them into helping him escape the island. Harka quickly succumbed to his vast injuries and ailments and died, but not before revealing that he knew Alenna's parents. After Harka's passing, David revealed that he was a member of a small resistance cell operating in New Providence, Rhode Island, and heard rumors of Harka using body doubles before. With this revelation, Gadya and the rest of the group apologized to David for not trusting him and continued on to the facility in the Gray Zone. Escape from the Wheel After a few hours, Alenna, Markus, Rika, David, and Gadya reached what appeared to be a massive city, which was in reality the facility in the Gray Zone. Upon exploring the place, the group decided to crawl through a series of tunnels and grates surrounding the facility. Upon arrival, Alenna and her friends were beset by a swarm of Feelers. The five adolescents struggled to fight off the massive machines. Despite the group's best efforts, Markus, David, and Rika were overwhelmed and captured by the Feelers, while Alenna and Gadya escaped inside the facility. Once inside, Alenna and Gadya made their way to a computer room where the AI running the facility, Clara, told them about the facility and hindered their efforts to reach the landing pad. Along the way, the duo discover pods containing all the kids captured by the Feelers in suspended animation to be delivered by aircraft to New Mexico City for research and dissection. Horrified, Alenna decided to use Clara to gain access to some pods, and was able to find a pod containing Liam. As Alenna frantically attempted to thaw Liam out of stasis, Clara deployed security drones to dispatch Alenna and Gadya. Eventually Alenna succeeded in freeing Liam from his pod, and after embracing her boyfriend, the security drones reached the chamber and Gadya decided to stay behind to allow Alenna and Liam to escape the Wheel. Alenna reluctantly left Gadya to fight against the drones alone while she fled the room with Liam. Alenna and Liam noticed the pods being taken to an aircraft and decided to crawl inside an empty stasis pod without freezing themselves. Alenna finally confessed her romantic feelings towards Liam as Alenna and Liam's pod was loaded onto the waiting aircraft and the aircraft took off. Alenna and Liam had finally escaped the Wheel. Alenna and Liam spent a few hours in their pod as the aircraft made its way to an unknown destination when it crash landed in a desert. A few minutes later, Alenna and Liam heard footsteps and voices in the corridors of the aircraft. When the two were discovered, Alenna and Liam busted out of their pod to fight the unknown people, who turned out to be members of the rebels fighting against the UNA, who took them back to Destiny Station, a base in Australia hidden within a rock. It was at Destiny Station where Alenna and Liam met Vargas-Ruiz, a high ranking rebel scientist, who told the two teenagers that the rebels at Destiny Station have rescued other kids from the Wheel before and that Alenna and Liam would meet them soon enough. Vargas-Ruiz showed the duo their room, but she returned a few minutes later to take Alenna to see someone special. Alenna and Liam went together to meet the person, who was in reality Alenna's mother. Mother and daughter shared a long embrace after spending six years apart. Leah revealed that Alenna's father passed away three years earlier, and that she was a prisoner of the Wheel too before making it to Destiny Station and becoming a rebel. Leah also revealed that the GPPT was not a personality test at all, but a test for a genetic code that makes one immune to the effects of the government's thought pills, which have become increasingly less effective as more people with the gene were born. When Alenna introduced Liam to Leah, her mother recalls that Alenna and Liam met in New Florida when they were little as Alenna's parents were friends with Liam's parents for years. After Alenna was finished talking with her mother, Liam revealed that during a conversation he had with Vargas-Ruiz, and revealed many crucial facts, including that the rebels were planning to wrest the Wheel from UNA control and rescue its remaining prisoners, there was a hint that Liam's father might still be alive somewhere, and that Veidman was correct about the prescence of a spy within the ranks of the Villagers, and the spy was not David, but Meira, who was a skilled UNA operative stationed on the Wheel to keep the Villagers in line and ensure that nobody escaped the island. When Alenna and Liam returned to their quarters, they embraced tightly as they vowed to rescue their friends still on the Wheel and bring down the fascist UNA. Life in Destiny Station Alenna and Liam resided in Destiny Station for three weeks, where Alenna was questioned about her life on the Wheel. Personality Relationships